Rinae emerged from the cocoon. Handfuls of the kids were stuck together in clumps surrounded by the nesting material. Rinae’s appearance was altered vastly, her claws were sharper than ever her wings and crown returned only with the crown being more reminiscent of jagged horns going upward. She also gained an extra pair of scythe-like arms on her ribs. They curled up and hung close to her body. Her eyes had a constant glow of blue. She looked to the wall at some struggling children, she approached them placing a hand on the nesting material, almost instantaneously a bright white light took over as the predominant color as it got brighter the children looked like they began melting, their skin grayed and sagged. It only took a minute for them to resemble mummified husks. Rinae licked her lips, this form she now possessed was obviously one of the most efficient she’s ever had. She walked towards the door, every step she took seemed to deplete the wood of any residual magic it retained from its lifetime. Opening the door revealed six magic knights, each one more surprised than the last. Probably because they expected children and not this creature.

But true to their nature they were ready for anything, they readied their spells. But it didn’t matter, Rinae who was pushed back by only one was already surpassing them in terms of strength.

Each one launched a fireball, the power was no joke, the heat peeled the paints of the walls in the radius. They erupted around the girl, but had no effect, she had a raised a palm and completely devoured each one, however her lack of defense wasn’t perfect, she still suffered burns from the heat, however, they didn’t last as she replaced the damage with the help of the magic she ingested.

Each knight looked at each other confused unsure of what to do, any stronger would put the church right back to square one of being on fire. So they drew their swords, unfortunately, only two could go across the bridge-like structure but only one could swing comfortably.

“You and you! Go around and wait for my signal, we’ll keep this monster right here.” The two knights in the back went back from where they came, while the other four stayed right where they were. A flank tactic that would surely work if Rinae was a villain that patiently waited for the heroes to give it a challenge. Unfortunately, Rinae was a creature that didn’t even have a concept of honor. She flapped her top set of wings creating a wind pressure. Her speed had increased exponentially as she grabbed the middle knight’s throat with her arms, the other two knights barely even had time to turn their heads before she removed them from the body with her secondary arms.

The last alive was the commander that was giving the orders. His safety was only guaranteed as long as his wall of knights remained. His fear turned to determination as he swung his blade. The knight commander swung his blade but was dodge by Rinae as the tunnel she created slowed his swing down.

“So you’re quite an intelligent one, aren’t you monster?”

Rinae smirked, his try in defeating her opened himself up for her to counterattack...until she felt the wind direction change. It was no longer in her favor and was going against her. He swung his sword once more. She moved the still struggling knight into the path of the blade, killing him with the aid of his commander.

She dropped the body over the railing. But the captain wasn’t done with his attacks. She blocked most of them with her newly added arms but still sustained damage as they only had a certain range of degrees they could move. To add even more difficulty to the situation both knights came out from behind her locking her in the middle of the combat.

Rinae closed eyes began glowing brighter as she looked at the way the wind was being shifted. The magical lines were sporadic she got down on all fours and beat her wings, gripping the bridge with as much force as she could muster. Her vision showed the magic going downward and with the magic so to did the oxygen.

“Monster, I surely thought that you’d learn the same tri-” He looked down as a there was a sharp pain in his upper body. A sword pierced his chest from the back. Amalia pulled the sword back out and chopped the head off. She sheathed her sword and turned her back. “Finish up, we’re leaving.”

Rinae glared at her, her pride hurt from her taking away the life of the human she was fighting. Rinae turned around to the two that were already shaking with fear.

~^~

Amalia was waiting outside the church when Rinae came walking out gracefully.

Amalia looked at Rinae’s new mutations. “You look stronger. Can you take on the red queen, now?”

“I cannot, I am too weak.” She snarled.

“Impossible. You just ate some of the strongest magic users in this city.”

“I can feel her. she’s grown. I need to eat more.”

“I’m not letting you devour anything more than the churches.”

Rinae’s inner arms clicked together in annoyance. There is one I can eat.”

Amalia was silent for a second making direct eye contact with the creature. “And pray tell is that?”

“You call them dragons.”

Amalia paused for a minute. And began walking away from the church. “Dragons, they don’t exist anymore, they died out before I was born.”

“Foolish one, They didn’t die. They moved, live peacefully. I can smell them.”